For our scripture reading this morning, turn with me to Jude. As we read together that one chapter book, the second to the last book in the New Testament. Our text this morning is verse 24 of this letter of Jude. As we read now together the Word of God. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ, mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance. Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. Although you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered His people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority, but abandoned their own home, these He has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority, and slander celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, The Lord rebuke you. Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand. And what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals, these are the very things that destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain. They have rushed for profit into Balaam's error. They have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion. These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm, shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind, autumn trees without fruit and uprooted, twice dead. They are wild waves of the ocean, foaming up their shame, wandering stars for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men. See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly, acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These men are grumblers and fault finders. They follow their own evil desires. They boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. But dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, in the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt. Snatch others from the fire and save them. To others, show mercy mixed with fear, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. To him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. To the only God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, power, and authority through Jesus Christ, our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen. The text, verse 24, once again. to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy. Beloved brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ, I trust that everyone here this morning, both young and old, can make the confession that we are a blessed people. We enjoy uncountable blessings. Blessings that were we to take a piece of paper, we would fill it up. And some that we could not even remember. We enjoy physical blessings, to be sure. We could list many of those. As well, being reminded in baptism this morning, we enjoy the physical blessing of the birth of children. But also spiritual blessings. That God has revealed Himself to us. That through His Spirit, He has applied the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Giving us new hearts that we might know Him and love Him. And therefore also that we might come with confidence to that baptismal font with our children, because God's promise is also for our children. But far beyond our blessings, the blessings that we enjoy or experience in this life, both physical and spiritual, is the promised future joy that believers already own by the grace of God. This text before us this morning is a beautiful reminder of our only hope of salvation and what it has to teach us is both amazing and humbling. And now verse 24, as you may have noticed, is part of a unit along with verse 25. It is a doxology of praise to God. And in these verses, Jude is giving glory and praise to God because of who He is, because of what He has done, and because of what He continues to do. And now in no way do I want to minimize the doxology that we specifically find in verse 25, which 24 leads up to, but we want to consider why it is that God deserves such praise from His people. And we want to do this by considering the what He has done and what He is doing. And therefore, as we consider verse 24, I preach to you this Word of God, the believer's preservation motivates doxology to God. And congregation, really, there you have it already, don't you? Why does God deserve our adoration and our glory and our praise? It's because He preserves us. He preserves His people. We consider this preservation with these following points. Security from destruction. And security for perfection. Now as Reformed Christians, we believe that wonderful truth of Scripture, the P of that acronym TULIP, the perseverance of the saints, which we know can also be called the preservation of the saints. And the truth is, saints persevere not by their own will, not by their own strength, but saints persevere because God preserves them. In John 6, verse 39, Jesus said, This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And Paul also says in Romans 8, that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And then also in 2 Timothy 4, verse 18, we read, And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. And as you can imagine, this is only a sample of proof text for the comforting doctrine of the perseverance or preservation of the saints. And then this text, verse 24, teaches us, I believe, how God preserves us to Him who is able to keep you from falling. Or as another version says, to keep you from stumbling. Now congregation, the path to heaven is safe. There must be no doubt about that. That path to heaven is safe. Why? Because Jesus Christ forged that path. He prepared that path. He walked that path. And He leads His people on that path. Yet, at the same time, there is no road as dangerous as that path. Because the enemy, Satan, is working all along the Christian's path to turn us away. He uses his means, whatever means that may be, maybe through our emotions, maybe through physical means, whatever the case is, he uses his means to make the road rough. And he sets his hosts in strategic places of ambush. He tries to make the path slippery so that we cannot stand. Whatever pothole or roadblock he can set up. or put in our way, He will, in order to try to get you and me as believers to turn to the left or to the right. And throughout this one-chapter letter, Jude warns his hearers of false teachers from within the church. Verse 4 says again, For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. And skipping down to verses 10-13, Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand. And what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals, these are the very things that destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain. They have rushed for profit into Balaam's error. They have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion. These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm, shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind, autumn leaves without fruit and uprooted, twice dead. They are wild waves of the ocean, foaming up their shame, wandering stars for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. Congregation, the danger for believers cannot and must not be minimized. As well, Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 12, Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Jude warns the believers that all around them there is apostasy, even through heretics in the church. And this is something that we know as well. We remember this from our study of church history, but also we can see the apostasy in the world, but we know that even the visible church, or many that call themselves church today, have fallen so far away from the truth of the Word of God that they do not have anything that resembles that truth. But along with this warning, Jude also calls believers to action. Verses 20 and 21, But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Notice, beloved, the believer's responsibility here. Build yourselves up. Keep yourselves in God's love. As well, we read in Romans 6, verses 1 and 2, What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? And we're familiar with Paul's words in Philippians 2, verse 12, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You may recall that we mentioned this verse briefly last week and then again we have to say that notice what Paul adds to this. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Again, Jude says to Him who is able to keep you from falling or to keep you from stumbling. You see, beloved, God calls us to stand firm in the faith. He calls us to stand firm in life through faith. Yet we must confess that if we were left to ourselves, we could only stumble and fall. In fact, that would be our desire. Because apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, we want nothing to do with God. Stumbling and falling when it comes to the things of God is natural for us apart from Jesus Christ. And again, the temptation is always there. Asaph says in Psalm 73, But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped. And then he tells us why. For I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. And you remember Peter. The Apostle Peter was an example of this. Now boys and girls, I trust that you remember that episode in the Bible which tells us when Jesus was walking on the water and as He came to the boat in which His disciples were in, And Peter challenged Jesus and said, Lord, if it is You, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water. So he said, Jesus had come. And of course, we know what happened. Peter did walk on the water for a time. But just as soon as he took his eyes off of Jesus and focused on the wind and the waves, he was afraid. He began to sink. Peter was a picture of spiritual stumbling and falling. And the truth is, believers are like small children, young children, just learning to walk. Our spiritual legs are weak. We wobble back and forth. We fall often. Jude here warns believers against both impiety and impurity. But the truth is, we cannot guard against impiety, nor can we achieve purity in our own strength. We need power from above. We need the power of God for the sake of Jesus Christ who secured our release from the bondage of sin and evil. He alone is able to keep us from falling and stumbling. Into what? From stumbling into sin and falling forever away from Him. And congregation, God's ableness to do this is confirmed by Paul when he says in Romans 16, verse 25, now to Him who is able to establish you according to My Gospel. And He says in Ephesians 3, verse 20, Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. But the truth is not only is He able to keep His people from falling and stumbling, He actually does keep His people from stumbling and falling away from Him. And of course, this is not to say, as I trust we have all found out, This is not to say that He will never forsake us or that He will never allow us to follow our own selfish, sinful wills for a time. He will. He might. He does. But He will not allow one of His adopted children to be lost for good. And when He does allow us to follow our own selfish wills for a time, He restores His people in His grace, in His mercy and grace, to closer fellowship with Him. Congregation, He keeps His children. Now to him who is able to keep you from falling. He keeps his children. And this is really a wonderful word with an awesome meaning. The Greek word for keep is a military term that means to keep or to guard or to watch. And it can mean a couple of different things. On the one hand, it can mean to guard a prisoner, to watch a prisoner, to keep that one from escaping. But it can also mean, as it does here, to keep or guard one in the sense of providing protection from attack from the outside. To watch over and care for that one. And God, for the sake of Jesus Christ, keeps His people in safety from dangerous attacks. He keeps us from stumbling and falling away from Him for good. And this is the same meaning of the word keep in that comforting verse in 1 Peter 1. Peter speaks there, of course, to elect pilgrims, Christians, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation. First of all, kept by the power of God. There's nothing stronger, nothing more powerful than the power of God and kept for nothing less than salvation. And Psalm 121, that comforting psalm, also gives us this idea when it talks about that God keeps His people. In the NIV, it uses the word watch over and over again. In another version, it uses the word keep over and over again. I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from God, the Maker of heaven and earth. And the psalmist goes on to talk about all that God does to keep His people. And then he finishes that He will preserve your soul from this time forth and forevermore. Beloved, it takes nothing short of divine power and strength to keep us safe forever. And that's the believer's comfort. What greater comfort could there be than the comfort of being kept safe in the sovereign hand of God, the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth? Boys and girls, there is no army so large, and there is no armor so thick, and there is no machine gun so powerful. Nothing can provide such perfect security from destruction as our God. And that's exactly what He keeps us safe from. Eternal destruction. And God keeps His people from stumbling by grounding them firmly in His Word upon His Word. And of course, that's why worship with the preaching of the Word of God is central. It's to be central. We are not to replace it with anything else. It is not to be an option for God's people. We know that many have made it optional, but it's not to be an option. The Holy Spirit strengthens our faith, including increased knowledge of His Word and the increased conviction that it is true. And he does this through the preaching of the Word through which God has chosen to save those who believe. His Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and it alone, because it alone can show us the way and guide us along that way. In Job 4, verse 14, one of Job's friends, Eliphaz, says of Job, Your words have upheld him who is stumbling and you have strengthened the feeble knees. He's talking about Job's impact, his godly impact upon the society around him. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling. Strengthened the feeble knees. And if this was true of Job, how much more is this true of our God? Congregation, why does God guard His people? In Deuteronomy 32, we find what is called the Song of Moses. And in that song, Moses remembers God's grace to His people separating the Israelites from the other nations of the earth. And in the last part of verse 10 of that passage it says, He kept Him, referring to Israel, He kept Him as the apple of His eye. A phrase that sometimes we use, that one is the apple of another's eye. And in other words, believers are God's precious possession so that I can confess I belong body and soul and in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. The church is His precious possession, but not because we deserve it. We would indeed stumble and fall away if it were left up to us, but God has purchased us through the precious, incorruptible blood of Jesus Christ. And therefore, that means that security from destruction is not the end of the matter, is it? The believer also enjoys the guarantee of security for perfection. The text says, and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy. Another Bible translation says it this way, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless, with great joy. To present you that you might stand faultless or blameless. I believe this is a reference to the final judgment. All will stand before the sovereign judge one day. When Christ returns, He will gather all the nations before Him, separating them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. All will stand before the sovereign judge, but only God's people will stand in the way that our text speaks of. Only God's people will stand before Him without fault, blameless. That means without blemish. And of course, this must be an amazing truth to us because we have to confess that each one of us is a long, long way from being faultless or blameless. In fact, we are filled with faults. Apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, we are totally depraved that every part of our being is saturated with sin. Our whole natural being is as filthy garments. Every part is infected with sin. Our thoughts, our words, and our actions. Yet our comfort, beloved, is that our Savior keeps us. Even as the greeting says here to those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ, our Savior keeps us. In order, as Ephesians 5 says, that He might sanctify and cleanse her, His church, with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Congregation, our comfort is that the Holy Spirit's work will be so complete in God's saints that we will be blameless. Believers will be above reproach as we stand before God. Boys and girls, that means that Satan will not be able to make even one tiny accusation against us. He cannot blame us. He will not be able to blame us for anything. The law of God will not have any charge against us. Everything about God's people will be completely free from the bondage of evil. And one day, by God's grace, when we stand in the presence of Him, then we will indeed be holy even as He is holy. Saints will not be out of place in heaven. In fact, we will be perfectly fit for heaven. Some of you, I know, read Spurgeon's morning and evening for your devotions, part of your devotions. And if you read it this past week, you may recall what is said in January 10 in connection with 2 Timothy 4 verse 8, which says, finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. And Spurgeon says there, I love the old story of a dying man who exclaimed, I have sent all before me. God's finger is on the latch of my door and I am ready for him to enter. But someone said, are you afraid that you will miss your inheritance? No, said he. No. There is one crown in heaven that the angel Gabriel could not wear. It will fit no head but mine. There is one throne in heaven that Paul the Apostle could not fill. It was made for me. Beloved, how is all of this possible? Only by Christ's saving sacrifice for my sins and your sins as believers. And His righteousness imputed to you and me that we might be able to stand in God's presence, to be accepted by Him as His children. The blood of Jesus cleanses us, cleanses those who confess their sins, as 1 John 1, 9 says, from all unrighteousness. And Isaiah 1, verse 18 says, Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, and though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. The same word for without fault and blameless is used to describe Christ in 1 Peter 1, verse 19, where He is said to be a lamb without defect. And this means, beloved, that we will be presented Christ-like before the glory of God. Without defect. Can you imagine that? Without defect. And congregation, this presentation will be with great joy. Christ's joy is the privilege of presenting His church, presenting those for whom He is victorious, presenting her before the Father in glory. And our joy will be to stand before God, clothed in the white robes of Christ's righteousness, ready to give Him eternal worship and praise. But those who will stand before the Almighty Judge, filled with blame, filled with fault because of their own unrighteousness, they will be filled with terror. They will cry out for the mountains and the hills to cover them and hide them from the presence of God. And that's because their unholiness contradicts completely His holiness and glory. But redemption, and those who own that redemption by the grace of God, redemption does not fill even one of God's people with terror when in the presence of God. And that's why I believe that so many elderly saints, so many of God's saints, when they're facing death, when they're at death's doorstep, they have such confidence and assurance in the face of that death. It fills God's people with joy. Today, of course, our faults fill us with fears and doubts and sorrows, but beloved, we are called to be of good cheer because by God's grace, we shall be presented faultless with great joy. That means we will be blameless for the things which are indeed our fault. Which Jesus Christ has taken upon Himself. And we have the assurance that God has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. And therefore, even today, beloved, we can cry out with Paul, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And he gives the answer, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now boys and girls, Many of you are young and many of you may not be able to completely understand all of this, but you must understand that even one sin makes us filthy, dirty, so that we cannot be in God's presence. As we say, we cannot even be in the same room with Him. But Jesus Christ makes us clean. And you are called to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. And His promise to you is that you shall be saved. There is no other way to heaven but through Him. And again, this is the promise of baptism, isn't it? A promise which parents are to teach to their children. And young people who are gathered here today, the same is true for you, but also your age is one of the most difficult times in life. Those teenage years and even the couple of years following those teenage years. We know that peer pressure can be great at any age, at every age, but especially in your years. And the truth is that Satan will not cease attacking you because he knows that you are the most vulnerable. Young people, you must know, you must understand that when the world tries to tell you that you can be anything you want to be, that you can do anything you want to do, that all you have to do is think positively and go for it, there's one thing that you cannot do. You cannot cleanse yourself from your sin. Apart from which everything else is meaningless. You cannot get yourself into heaven. Look only to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only way. And congregation, each one of us must understand that this is what salvation is all about. Security from eternal destruction and security for eternal perfection all because of the perfect work of Jesus Christ. And then, of course, there's only one response for us to make, isn't there? And that's, as Jude includes in verse 25, doxology to God. All glory, majesty, power, and authority both now and forever belong to Him. And what greater comfort can God give to His children than this? And again, in Psalm 73, verses 23 and 24, Asaph says it so beautifully, Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel. and afterward, receive me to glory. Congregation, is that your goal? Is that your desire? To be received into God's glory? You see, that's God's promise for each and every one of His people. And Jesus Christ is indeed the tie that binds us together, and He will not lose even one for whom He died. And therefore, let us not be sad when we face the difficulties of this life, even death. Let us not be sad when we are separated one from another for time. But let us rejoice together that we will be united for eternity with our God and Savior and with each other as believers, giving glory only to Him. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, as we bow before You again in this morning hour, we give You thanksgiving and praise for this blessed truth with which You have blessed us. Indeed, we are reminded, Father, that in and of ourselves we would stumble and fall away from You at a moment's notice. But You are the One who has called Your people, chosen Your people, called Your people. given to us new hearts for the sake of Jesus Christ. You are the one as well who keeps your people safe in the palm of your hand. Father, if there is one here today who does not have that comfort, we ask, O Lord, that you would work powerfully and effectively by your Spirit in that one's heart, in that one's life, that they might confess their sins, repent of their sins, look to the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation and enjoy that blessed assurance of being kept safe forever to be presented faultless, above reproach, before the presence of God. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake and in His name. Amen.